Strong south winds averaged around 25 MPH with gusts from 35 to 45 MPH for about two hours. The strong winds were immediately ahead of a cold front that was accompanied by showers and some thunderstorms.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.
Strong south winds averaged around 25 MPH with gusts from 35 to 45 MPH for about two hours. The strong winds were immediately ahead of a cold front that was accompanied by showers and some thunderstorms. At Poplar Bluff's airport, the peak wind gust was clocked at 44 MPH. Some trees and power lines were blown down on the south end of Poplar Bluff. A power outage affected about 100 customers when a couple of trees fell on power lines. At one residence, a large oak tree fell, damaging two pickup trucks and a boat.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 4, 3:15 PM CST, 8 hours 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 315 PM CST THU MAR 4 2004 .DISCUSSION... MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGE REMAINS THE POTENTIAL FOR CONVECTION TONIGHT AND AGAIN FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. LATEST WEATHER MAPS INDICATE A SURFACE WARM FRONT STRETCHED ACROSS CENTRAL MISSOURI INTO SOUTH-CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHERN INDIANA... GENERALLY ALONG THE INTERSTATE 64 CORRIDOR. THE INFLUX OF MOISTURE WAS QUITE EVIDENT...WITH DEW POINTS IN THE UPPER 50S TO MID 60S ADVECTING INTO THE FORECAST AREA. HOWEVER...THE LACK OF INSOLATION WAS CONTRIBUTING TO MARGINAL INSTABILITY AS MEASURED BY MSAS LIFTED INDICES BETWEEN PLUS 2 AND MINUS 1. SATELLITE/RADAR IMAGERY INDICATED A SQUALL LINE OF STRONG AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER CENTRAL OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS AS OF MID AFTERNOON. MODEL INITIALIZATION FROM THIS MORNING/S 12Z ETA AND GFS MODEL RUNS WAS FAIRLY ACCURATE AT BOTH THE SURFACE AND 500 MB. BOTH MODELS ARE ALSO IN DECENT AGREEMENT OVER THE NEXT 48 HOURS...SO A MODEL BLEND WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS FORECAST PACKAGE. FOR TONIGHT...THE UPPER-LEVEL SHORTWAVE OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS WILL EJECT NORTHEAST TOWARD THE GREAT LAKES BY FRIDAY MORNING. SURFACE LOW PRESSURE IS ALSO FORECAST TO PUSH NORTHEAST INTO EASTERN IOWA BY 12Z FRIDAY. AS THE ENTIRE WEATHER SYSTEM SLIDES EAST TONIGHT...THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY CURRENTLY OVER THE PLAINS WILL SLIDE EAST INTO THE WESTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA THIS EVENING...THEN INTO THE EASTERN HALF OVERNIGHT. WHILE INSTABILITY IS FORECAST TO REMAIN MARGINAL...THERE IS A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF UPPER-LEVEL ENERGY IN THE FORM OF SPEED AND TO A LESSER EXTENT DIRECTIONAL SHEAR. SO WHILE IT LOOKS LIKE THE STRONGEST ACTIVITY SHOULD REMAIN WEST AND SOUTH OF THE AREA...THE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS COULD STILL BE MARGINALLY SEVERE BY THE TIME IT MAKES IT TO OUR FORECAST AREA...WITH DAMAGING WINDS THE PRIMARY CONCERN. WHILE THE LINE OF SHOWERS WILL DEPART THE AREA EARLY FRIDAY...THE COLD FRONT IS NOT EXPECTED TO PUSH ACROSS THE REGION UNTIL AFTERNOON AND EVENING. AS A RESULT...A DESTABILIZING ATMOSPHERE MAY RESULT IN ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT OVER THE TENNESSEE VALLEY ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON. AS A RESULT...WILL MAINTAIN SMALL CHANCE POPS OVER WESTERN COUNTIES...WITH LIKELY POPS OVER THE EASTERN COUNTIES OF KENTUCKY. FROM FRIDAY NIGHT AND BEYOND...THE REGION WILL TRANSITION INTO NORTHWEST FLOW AS AN UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH DIGS INTO THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. WILL LEAVE PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS DURING MOST OF THE PERIOD. A COUPLE OF MINOR DISTURBANCES WILL DIVE SOUTHEAST FROM CANADA...PRODUCING SMALL CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION LATE SATURDAY AND EARLY SUNDAY...THEN AGAIN MONDAY NIGHT. OTHERWISE...DRY CONDITIONS WILL BE THE RULE FROM THE WEEKEND THROUGH MUCH OF NEXT WEEK. AS FAR AS TEMPERATURES ARE CONCERNED...WILL GENERALLY REMAIN WITHIN A FEW DEGREES OF GUIDANCE THROUGH THE PERIOD. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...NONE. IN...NONE. KY...NONE. MO...NONE. && RJP
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 1024 PM CST THU MAR 4 2004 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100- 107>112-114-051100- ALEXANDER IL-BALLARD KY-BOLLINGER MO-BUTLER MO-CALDWELL KY- CALLOWAY KY-CAPE GIRARDEAU MO-CARLISLE KY-CARTER MO-CHRISTIAN KY- CRITTENDEN KY-DAVIESS KY-EDWARDS IL-FRANKLIN IL-FULTON KY- GALLATIN IL-GIBSON IN-GRAVES KY-HAMILTON IL-HARDIN IL-HENDERSON KY- HICKMAN KY-HOPKINS KY-JACKSON IL-JEFFERSON IL-JOHNSON IL- LIVINGSTON KY-LYON KY-MARSHALL KY-MASSAC IL-MCCRACKEN KY-MCLEAN KY- MISSISSIPPI MO-MUHLENBERG KY-NEW MADRID MO-PERRY MO-PERRY IL-PIKE IN- POPE IL-POSEY IN-PULASKI IL-RIPLEY MO-SALINE IL-SCOTT MO-SPENCER IN- STODDARD MO-TODD KY-TRIGG KY-UNION KY-UNION IL-VANDERBURGH IN- WABASH IL-WARRICK IN-WAYNE MO-WAYNE IL-WEBSTER KY-WHITE IL- WILLIAMSON IL- 1024 PM CST THU MAR 4 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA AND WESTERN KENTUCKY. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST ACROSS THE FOUR STATE REGION OVERNIGHT. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE LOCAL WIND GUSTS 35 TO 45 MPH. IN ADDITION...LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THERE IS A SLIGTH RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE PENNYRILE REGION OF WESTERN KENTUCKY FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS A COLD FRONT MAKES ITS WAY INTO WESTERN KENTUCKY. THE MAIN HAZARD WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED ACROSS THE PENNYRILE REGION OF WESTERN KENTUCKY FRIDAY.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, March 2004
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5387102, 5387103, 5387104, 5387105, 5387106, 5387107.